October 5, 1963

Secretary of State Kelly Bryant hosted a reception for Eva Ware Barnett, the composer of Arkansas’s first official state song, at the capitol. The songwriter autographed copies of the sheet music to “Arkansas” to be distributed free to the public upon request. Governor Orval Faubus had signed the resolution on March 4, 1963, restoring “Arkansas” to its former status as official state song. More than two decades earlier, Barnett had brought a copyright lawsuit against the state after Secretary of State C. G. “Crip” Hall had distributed a free pamphlet containing the song during the election year of 1940. Barnett maintained that this was done for political purposes and injured sales of her sheet music, for which she collected about six cents per copy.